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Aren’t you tired of reading generic Pinterest marketing strategy from bloggers, that doesn’t really dive deep in your problem or gives no solid answers?
As someone who has herself struggled A LOT to drive traffic to this website without having 1000 backlinks (which btw takes ages to build), I know how annoying this can be.se
I was there, and now I am here-
You’ll probably think now, “1.1m impressions is cool and all that, but how does this translate to actual website traffic?”.
I am getting there.
Here are the REAL numbers behind this “1.1m” story.
This is a screenshot from the first quarter of 2019 and as you see 65.1% of my traffic came from Pinterest.
This translated to 29291 users.
This translated to 29291*1.23 (page/session)= 36027 page views.
Now, as a domain that is only 8 months old and STRUGGLES to increase organic traffic, this is a dream come true.
This post will take you through concrete ACTIONABLE Pinterest traffic strategy tips that will help you kickstart your Pinterest slumber.
First things first, let’s make a few assumptions right away-
- You have a Pinterest business account and rich pins enabled. If not, go here to create a business account and activate rich pins.
- You are using Pinterest to drive traffic to a website. It may be a blog, an e-commerce store or any commercial brand.
Now, that we’ve got the basics out of the way, let’s jump right into what you can do to drive free traffic to your site!
Tip #1 Research, plan and create viral content.
A lot of people blog about ‘what they feel like blogging about’.
This is an excellent strategy for a private blog, or one that you never hope to scale or make money from.
I am very much guilty of doing the same, until I realised no one really cares about my random feelings.
They care about feelings they can RELATE to and actually need and use.
In other words, your content needs to be iNFORMATIONAL or INSPIRATIONAL. Anything else, is difficult to scale. Simply because, content is meant to be consumed. And the best content or content that has the potential to get viral always checks of those two categories.
How can you create WOW content?
Step 1: Find out what is trending.
- Check out Google Trends- An excellent and free tool to see what kind of things are people looking for. This is an excellent way to plan and see what kind of content would generate the best long-term traffic both from organic or inorganic perspective. You can also filter by geography, industry and more to see what fits your niche best.
- You can also check out Buzzsumo and see what your competitors have maximum shares for. I have found many ideas in travel (my niche) by simply searching the URL of some competitors and seeing the number of Pinterest shares. The tool is free, with limited functionality, but unless you are a company with a large budget, the free plan is enough for content ideas.
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Step 2: Brainstorm on a Keyword list and create content which you can also organically rank for.
Once you have a broad idea of trends, make sure to conduct detailed keyword research. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out basic SEO beginner tips here. You want to create content that will do well not only on Pinterest but ALSO on Google. Here’s where your MAIN research kicks in.
The tool I use for doing my keyword research is called Keysearch. I found this tool by accident, but after a few months, I feel if there is one tool you should use as a new blogger it is this one! Not to mention, it is WAY cheaper than premium tools such as AHREFS and SEMRUSH. (Click here to get 20% OFF on Keysearch with code “KSDISC”)
Some tips on how I conduct my keyword research are-
- Check out long-tail keywords by volume and see what’s the competition score. My DA is 25 and the keywords I rank for are at a maximum difficulty of about 40 on Keysearch. They even give you a suggested keyword difficulty score to target. (P.S. You can also track existing keyword rank and see dynamic changes). I add them to a list and see which ones are best suited to my content and audience.
- Check the existing blog posts and see what they are lacking. The easiest way to create better content is to CREATE better content. You can check out the top 5-6 posts that are ranking for your targeted keyword, find missing information or gaps and make sure to include them in your detailed post.
Once you’ve done this, you are ready to start writing and creating kickass content!
Tip #2 Create click-worthy Pinterest graphics.
I think we all know this subconsciously but somehow fail to internalize when creating Pinterest graphics.
To give you an example, I will show you two pictures so that you know what I am talking about-


- AMI Headline Analyser– An excellent place to analyse for free how powerful your headline is. Aim for a score of 40 or above always!
- Canva– A free graphic design tool that I use to design ALL my pins.
- Unsplash– An excellent alternative to Pixabay to find out free pictures for your graphics. You can simply upload them to your canva account and design with them!
Tip #3 Create more personal boards.

Tip #4 Send group boards requests every month.

Tip #5 Make manual pinning your best friend.
Tip #6 Measure, track and repeat success.
All the tips above tell you what you should do and how to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your website.
But how do you know if any of that is working?
Here’s where analytics comes in. Make Google Analytics, Pinterest Analytics and Tailwind Analytics (if you use), your obsession.
I track on a monthly basis which of my pins are doing the best in terms of bringing traffic. This is also how you can identify which pins are going viral or have the potential to.
Where do you find this data though? Here’s a short clip:
In short: Google Analytics -> Acquisition -> All Traffic-> Referrals -> Pin URL
Once you have identified the winning horses, create more pins and repeat the steps above!
This also goes into content that just doesn’t do well on Pinterest. Take a cue and drop it. Perhaps use it on other social media marketing networks or content syndication platforms such as Quora.
If you are doing everything right in your Pinterest marketing or content marketing strategies and still not getting the desired returns, examine your pin descriptions.
Could you go back and update pin descriptions to make them more Pinterest SEO friendly and easily searchable?
Often, we don’t need to do have an in-depth look into our Pinterest accounts and we can find all the things that can be optimised!
Tip # 7 Include your pins in your blog posts and add social sharing plugins.
Cerise Mar says
As a new blogger, this was an extremely helpful post. Especially your video that shows where in Google Analytics to look for the most successful pins. I learned something new today, Thank you so much!
Cerise says
As a new blogger, this was an extremely valuable post. Especially the video showing how to use Google Analytics to find your best Pins. I learned something new today. Thank you so much!
Shruti Pangtey says
I am happy to be of help! 🙂
Darcey says
Thank you for sharing. This is helpful. Right now, I’m working on the step of joining group boards. It’s time consuming, but it’s starting to pay off. I also need to edit my board descriptions.
Shruti Pangtey says
I am happy to be of help Darcey! 🙂
Carla Natali says
Oh yeah!!! I´m definitely pinning this because I´m referring back to it again and again.
I love Pinterest but I feel so lost about how I can increase my blog traffic using it…I have no idea how to get new followers and even the Pins that have a lot of impressions never translate to many saves…or CT.
I´ll read the rest of your Pinterest Strategies posts and see if I can improve my blog traffic.
I´ll let you know!
Thanks for sharing and being so specific!
Ruchik says
Wow such an amazing article.I will bookmark it and will read it again.I am searching to test new Pinterest marketing strategy and i think I am going to try this one.
Nadia Malik says
So much insight. I definitely have to come back to your post. Your writing style is very good.
Jay Queen says
I appreciate this info. I’m new to Pinterest.
Nataly says
Great article Shruti!
It is very refreshing to see other fellow bloggers giving such insugfull and rich information at no cost to help other bloggers.
Keep up the great work. 🙂
Shruti Pangtey says
thanks a lot!
Shruti Pangtey says
Thanks for reading nataly! 🙂
Sindy says
Hi Shruit,
Thanks a lot for this post! It is really informative!
I have a question about asking to join Pinterest group boards. How many pins should I have in my profile before I approach the people? Should I wait until I have at least 100 pins before starting this process?
I struggle with Pinterest traffic and will appreciate your advice.
Many thanks,
Sindy
Rewari says
Such a great article. It’s really helpful for me to generate more traffic on the website through Pinterest. Thank you.
Beth Elkassih says
This by far has been the best blog article on Pinterest I have read (and I’ve read plenty!) Subscribed and can’t wait to implement all your advice. Congratulations on your success. I too am eight months in, but you definitely have mastered the art. Thanks again for sharing.
Rebecca @ Boss Single Mama says
These are great tips for using Pinterest to drive traffic. I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest and I’m still working on cracking the code, so to speak.
Shruti Pangtey says
Thanks beth! Wish you all the best! 🙂
Erin says
This was a great post. I am going to try to make a few board secret for awhile until I want to make them public and see if that gives me a boost in traffic.
Nat says
Amazing tips inside. Thanks so much girl! 😉
I have one question though:
• My blog is mainly about creative design & freelancing tips but my analytics show that my audience is interested in finance. Should I write content around that? This is definitely not my niche!
Thanks for your help!
Shruti Pangtey says
Hi there, thanks for your kind comments. Well, you have to pick your battles! My audience is also interested in home and garden but I don’t think I can do justice to that content. Since you write about freelancing you could write about finances related to freelancers and I’m sure that would be popular. At the end of the day, you have to decide what you can do best for your audience and what fits the current theme of your website. 🙂